The bogus patents that were
In the time it’ll take for this issue to go to press, Congress will likely be several steps closer to bringing the Innovation Act into law. For the uninitiated, this legislation is a response to the increasingly predatory antics of patent trolls who have begun targeting retailers as of late, shaking them down with patent infringement claims so costly that they’re often settled out of court.
What distinguishes a patent troll from any other company with legitimate legal grounds for protecting its intellectual property? Well, for one, patent trolls are often NPEs, or non-practicing entities. This is another term for companies with no actual products or services, meaning they exist solely as patent holders, or a group of lawyers. In the case of patent trolls, the vast bulk of their revenue stream comes from patent infringement lawsuits; the more ubiquitous the technology, the bigger the haul.
Of course, it’s difficult to understand how pernicious they are without a few examples of real, existing patents they’ve used to target businesses. As they say, truth is often stranger than fiction.
5. Linking one’s privacy policy to a mobile app
According to the National Retail Federation, which was instrumental in drafting the Innovation Act, a California company once sued more than 40 online retailers that linked their web-based privacy policies to their smartphone apps.
4. Scanning/attaching a document to an email
Project Paperless LLC charged companies $1,000 per employee for the license to scan documents and attach them to emails as PDFs. Essentially, any office with a scanner could be asked to cough up the fee.
3. Using an online shopping cart feature
This was one for the books. Last year, Soverain Software made millions in royalties off its “online shopping cart” patent, until Newegg won an appeal that snuffed out the patents enabling Soverain’s tirade. That wasn’t before the company extracted massive settlements from giants like Amazon, The Gap, Home Depot, Victoria’s Secret and Avon, which were thankfully invalidated thanks to Newegg.
2. Using WiFi
Back in 2011, Innovatio IP acquired a portfolio of patents that gave the company license to sue coffee shops, restaurants and hotels for offering WiFi. In a sweeping act of generosity, they held off on targeting individuals — for the time being.
1. Conducting business online
This belongs to a spate of patents known as “business method patents,” which include Amazon’s early “1-click” patent as well as various other obtuse “innovations:” doing business on a computer, a network, an intranet or the World Wide Web. In other words, we’re all at risk.